UPDATE: The University of California has appealed the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to defeat the injunction entered in the case, requiring UCLA administrators to ensure Jewish students cannot be subjected to so-called "Jew Exclusion Zones" on campus, should pro-Hamas protesters return to again attempt to seize control of sections of campus during the new school year.
Calling the situation "unimaginable" and "abhorrent," a Los Angeles federal judge has ordered UCLA administration to ensure that Jewish students on their campus are not again forced to submit to what amounted to antisemitic religious checkpoints, such as those set up when pro-Hamas protestors effectively seized control over a portion of the campus and set up what has been called a "Jew Exclusion Zone."
On Aug. 13, U.S. District Judge Mark S. Scarsi entered a preliminary injunction against UCLA, forbidding the university from using the goals of "preventing violence" or "de-escalation" as an excuse to allow pro-Hamas protestors or any others to deny Jewish students full and equal access to UCLA campus services and programs.
"Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith," the judge wrote. "UCLA does not dispute this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters.
"But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion."
A group of Jewish UCLA students filed suit against the school in early June in Los Angeles federal court. They are represented in the case by attorneys with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, of Washington, D.C., and the constitutional law firm of Clement & Murphy, of Alexandria, Virginia.
In the lawsuit, the Jewish students accused university leadership of submitting to large antisemitic protests which proliferated at UCLA, beginning in late April. The lawsuit asserts the protests left Jewish students unprotected and unsafe on campus. They assert UCLA leadership has failed to protect the constitutional and civil rights and freedoms that should be afforded to all students.
The lawsuit notes that UCLA boasts of commitments by leadership to uphold policies forbidding "acts of discrimination" or "harassment."
"But UCLA has failed to provide Jewish students, faculty, and staff with the protection promised by such policies," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit pointed to continued acts of antisemitic aggression against Jewish students, faculty and staff at UCLA, including the distribution of a document titled "Loudmouth Jew," the proliferation of swastikas and other Nazi imagery, and demonstrations loudly repeating chants historically associated with Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas, such as "from the River to Sea," "there's only one solution," "death to Israel" and "death to Jews."
Further, they noted a pro-Hamas protest "encampment" on UCLA's Royce Quad resulted in the establishment of a virtual "Jew Exclusion Zone." Students attempting to walk through this area were allegedly challenged by protesters to declare if they were "Zionists" or if they agreed with protesters antisemitic demands.
Students and visitors were then issued wristbands to indicate they were essentially friendly to the protesters. If they refused the demands at the "checkpoints," they were denied entry to the campus property engulfed by the encampment.
According to the complaint, these "checkpoints" were established with the knowledge and agreement of UCLA leadership and campus police refused to intervene to protect Jewish students or others who refused to align with the protesters.
Campus security then allegedly further instructed Jewish students and others who disagreed with the antisemitic protesters to avoid the encampment under a "de-escalation strategy" to mitigate the risk of conflict between the pro-Hamas protesters and Jewish students and their supporters.
The Jewish students sought a court order requiring UCLA to support Jewish students and to not allow such encampments and anti-Jewish checkpoints to take over campus again.
In his ruling, Judge Scarsi lamented the need for such a ruling at all.
"In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith," Scarsi said. "This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating."
While the encampments have largely stopped since early June, the judge said the risk of them returning at the beginning of the new school year this fall merits a preliminary injunction to require UCLA to ensure there is not a repeat of the antisemitic events of the spring.
The judge noted the decision does not address the merits or relative righteousness of any cause, including the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests themselves.
Nor did the judge require UCLA to take action against any group of students exercising constitutional protest rights.
But he said if the university again allows protesters to deny access to campus services, programs and activities to Jewish students, they must similarly deny such access to all students, or run afoul of equal protection guarantees under the law.
"How best to make any unavailable programs, activities, and campus areas available again is left to UCLA's discretion," the judge said.
The lawsuit was one of several filed across the U.S. against university and college administration who allowed the pro-Hamas protests to take over portions of their campuses this spring and harass Jewish students in the name of fighting "Zionism" and to demand action against Israel for their miliary response in Gaza to the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.
The Becket Fund said this ruling marks the first of its kind in those legal actions seeking to protect the rights of Jewish students against antisemitic harassment on campus.
In a statement following the ruling, Mark Rienzi, president of the Becket Fund and an attorney representing the Jewish students, said:
"Shame on UCLA for letting antisemitic thugs terrorize Jews on campus. Today's ruling says that UCLA's policy of helping antisemitic activists target Jews is not just morally wrong but a gross constitutional violation. UCLA should stop fighting the Constitution and start protecting Jews on campus."
The judge's order is set to take effect Aug. 15.
UCLA has not yet responded to the ruling. The Becket Fund said they expect UCLA to appeal the decision to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.